Puerto Rico governor calls report on his election plans incorrect

Reuters Staff

1 Min Read

SAN JUAN/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said via social media on Wednesday that a news report he would announce this week a decision not to run in the November 2016 elections was incorrect.

However, he did not clarify his intentions for next year. A spokesperson for the governor declined to comment.

El Nuevo Dia, the U.S. territory’s leading daily newspaper, said in a report earlier on Wednesday that Garcia Padilla was going to make an announcement at the end of the week that he would not run for election given the demands of trying to fix Puerto Rico’s financial crisis. The paper’s report cited sources close to the governor.

Garcia Padilla, in New Jersey promoting Puerto Rican industry on Wednesday, tweeted that “information about the announcement is not correct.”

He added that he would not be distracted from his goal on bringing down crime and unemployment and addressing the island’s $72 billion debt crisis.

Reporting By Nick Brown in San Juan and Daniel Bases in New York; Editing by Christian Plumb